The Protons

Designs On— Global Warming

By Didier Hilhorst and Nicholas Zambetti

The Protons are a set of playful toy monster lamps that both educate and animate: they light up and glow when they are charged, by way of human-powered interaction. By directly relating human effort to light output, we can communicate the process behind, and the value provided by, energy production. To operate The Protons, the user pulls a cord repeatedly for one minute, which yields three hours of illumination—just the right amount of time to light the journey into dreamland. The Proton is a renewable light source and earning tool that tangibly connects effort in with energy out.